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Okay, from the title you can probably guess that I’m not happy with the Microsoft cam. I hooked it up on my Laptop first, my main PC (Pentium 4/3.06Ghz/1GB Ram) and it worked okay. Yes, only okay. I immediately noticed the quality was a bit sharper than the original QuickCam that I was using, but it still looked pretty grainy. I loved the fact that it was a wide-angle lens. but the grainyness disturbed me a bit. Raising the quality of the cam did not improve the graininess. It only made the picture larger, with the same graininess. I then tried to run the cam on the camera server in my livingroom and after a half hour (or more) trying to get it to start up, i pretty much gave up. It runs SUPER-SLOW because all video processing is done by the software. I would rather spend $100 on good optics than software that makes the camera zoom and pan into your face (which worked moderately well on my laptop, I didn’t even try it on the camera server)

Webcam makers should work on making better cameras and not software to enhance a poor/noisy image. I may try one more cam, or maybe just get a video capture card and a good quality CCTV camera which I can pick up for under $100 easy.. MUCH less if I go for a used one.

I’ve watched a few people who also lifecast and asked them what they were using. One girl who had a super-sharp image was using a QuickCam Fusion.. I’ll have to check it out. The fusion is also less than the one I got, or if it doesn’t have a wide-angle option I may spend the extra $30 ($130) for the Super Vision which has been getting rave reviews, better than the fusion.

I was talking with Casey last night about LJ and it occurred to me that I haven’t posted anything in a bit. We were talking about how LJ is an online journal and should be used as a means to communicate our inner-most feelings and emotions with our friends. I never really saw LJ that way. I used it more as a means to catalog my life and to post generalizations of the activities I take part in. For the most part, my best friends are not on, and/or do not read Live Journal which is one reason I probably never saw it in the same way Casey does. Also, I don’t believe in publishing my private life for the world to see, nor do I see the need to post information on the Internet and then make it Private so only a select few can read. This is why my LJ, MySpace and website are open for anybody to read. if I want it private, I don’t clutter the Internet with it

Sprint Shannanigans
Over the past few months, friends of mine have been giving me pointers on how to scam Sprint for a new phone. The only advice I followed was to apply the Insurance on my phone, but I did not bring myself to break my phone just to get a free replacement. As it turns out, I didn’t have to. The screen developed a dead spot affecting my writing/typing on it, so I headed down to the Sprint store and they are ordering me a replacement. Since my phone is no longer supported/carried by Sprint, they ordered me the new one. The PPC-6800 HTC Mogul. It’s a Pocket PC phone, just like mine, but it’s running the newer Windows Mobile Operating System (WM6)and I think it has more memory than my phone did. I should have it with in the week.

Web Cam Connundrum
Did I spell Connundrum right? Oh well.. I finally took the plunge and spend $100 on a Web-Cam. For years, my Web-Cams have been run using Logitech’s low-end $20 and $30 cameras. I used to use the QuickCamVC which was a $20 camera with comparable quality to most $80 cameras of its time, but Logitech could not get the drivers to work with Windows XP. Even in Compatability mode. So at the advice of a Manager in Logitech, I bought their $50 webcam and the quality was EQUAL to their shitty $20 cam. I was annoyed, but it’s the cam I use currently. It’s grainy, the focus is never right, and works like shit in low light. This will change when I get home. I picked up the Microsoft VX-6000 web-cam. It’s reviews claim it to be a GREAT camera, so I’m looking foward to hooking it up and getting away from Logitech altogether.

I’ll post comparisons and reviews this weekend.